HHP Pirate Profile - Mack Craven

Name: Mack Craven

Age: 21

Major: Sports Studies

Hobbies / Interests: Hanging out with friends, spending time at the beach, reading, traveling, & just being around sports in general!

Describe your experience working with athletic equipment:

My experience working with the equipment staff at ECU has been awesome! I primarily help with football, but have experienced working with other sports as well. I help at practices and workouts daily, work and get to travel for all football games, and I’ve travelled all over the country with the football team, I’ve even been on the set of ESPN’s College Game Day! Another one of my favorite times working equipment (besides being with football) of was being able to help with the NCAA Baseball Regional last summer.

Describe your current internship with the Pitt County School District Athletic Director’s Office:

My internship with the County Athletic Director has been nothing short of amazing! I’ve been able to meet and interact with so many people, as well as learning so much that you can’t necessarily learn in the classroom. I’m really grateful to have landed this internship and work with Mr. Butler on a daily basis.

Why did you choose to work with the Pitt County School District?

I chose to work with Pitt County Schools because it was a local area internship with a broad range of experience and opportunities. Since I have some experience working in Collegiate Athletics, I decided adding high school and middle school athletics would be an awesome addition to my resume. Being in an area with such strong athletics programs is really fun to be around.

What is your favorite part about your current internship?

My favorite part about my internship is being able to work on my special project daily, which is to handle their social media accounts and create content for it! Coming into the internship, they had zero social media platforms. Since January, there has been a significant increase of followers and interactions across Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram and the Pitt County Athletics website! It’s been really fun to interact with administrators, athletes, students, and fans. This county has a lot of pride within its athletics programs, and so many accomplishments to be proud of! Right now I’m getting to work with Mr. Butler and the NCHSAA to assist in hosting the Eastern Regionals for the State Basketball Tournament, which we’re excited about hoping for a few Pitt County high schools to be apart of!

What is your favorite aspect of the Sports Studies Program?

My favorite aspect is that you get to study sports from a variety of different scopes and lenses. You also get hands on experiences and interactions with people and professors who have been in the industry and have experience and valuable insight.

Do you have any advice to incoming Sports Studies students?

As cliché as it sounds, building those relationships with professors and classmates is a big key to success! You never know who will be able to help you out in the long run and the phrase, “it’s about who you know” really is true! Building those relationships and networks is so important in addition to gaining as much experience as possible.